Cuba captain Roberlandy Simon (left) and his coach Orlando Samuels after Saturday's game against Japan.

Cuba Captain Roberlandy Simon: "It was a very great game today and we
were happy to earn the win, but we need to win again to raise our
ranking in the World League and go to the finals. I played hard
today, but I think the team as a whole needs to raise its level in
certain aspects of the game. Japan was a tough opponent. They are
really quick and good at defense. We have height, but not speed. I
think with a bit more effort Japan could become a strong team."

Cuba Coach Orlando Samuels: "Today's game was not so good. Japan did
well but made too many errors, especially service errors. For us, our
receiving was not so good.

I told my players to block together and
put pressure on Japan's receiving.

Tomorrow, we must improve our serving
and receiving and look to put pressure on Japan.

(Re. setter Raydel Hierrezuelo) He's
had an injured ankle and was in poor condition, but now he is getting
better so he was able to play today.

(Re merits of setter Hierrezuelo vs.
Yoandri Diaz) - Hierrezuelo can also attack and that can confuse
Japan's blocking. Diaz is also a good blocker and good in defense."

Japan Coach Tatsuya Ueta: "This is our third match in Pool C and
we have now played against all the other teams in the group, and I
feel that compared to the other pools, Pool C is much tougher.

Today, we tried to use blockers down the
middle, but it didn't always work. Also, Fukuzawa made reception
errors at important points.

We have to have a meeting about today's
game.

(Re. Poor performance at the end of
sets) At the end of each set, we seem to have a problem with our
mentality. Yoneyama made serving mistakes at important points and I
think that is down to a problem of mentality.

(How to resolve issues before tomorrow)
The players have to communicate more with each other. Today's result
was all down to lack of communication.

And we have to be stronger mentally –
who spikes, who digs."

Japan captain Daisuke Usami: "Today, Cuba played as we had expected
from our data. During the game, the Japan bench were giving us
advice, but we couldn't carry it out, so we have to think this and
about our mistakes.

If we had done what they asked of us, we might
have won, so we really have to concentrate on this.

Compared to our win over Bulgaria, the
team today did not play together well. It's important that we are all
on the same page and operating in the same direction."

Japan No. 13, Kunihiro Shimizu: "Cuba spiked a lot down the center and
we weren't able to deal with them, either through digging or
blocking. Tomorrow, when we spike we have to be aware of where the
gap in their defense is."